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The U.N. nuclear watchdog planned a major report on Iran that might have revealed more of its suspected atomic bomb research, but held off as Tehran's relations with the outside world thawed, sources familiar with the matter said. Such a report - to have been prepared last year - would almost certainly have angered Iran and complicated efforts to settle a decade-old dispute over its atomic aspirations, moves which accelerated after pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani took office in August.

Threatened by al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists, community in northern city of Raqqa chooses ‘dhimmitude’ over conversion or death

A jihadist group in Syria said Wednesday that Christians in the city of Raqa will have to pay taxes and hold religious rituals behind closed doors, under a set of rules. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), listed 12 rules which made up an "agreement" with Christians in the northern city to provide "protection." ... Christians must pay a "jiziyeh" tax, as imposed in early Islam on non-Muslim subjects. ... also demands Christians "do not put on display a cross or anything from their book, anywhere on Muslims' path or markets" and that they should not "use...

Muslim groups are demanding Spanish citizenship for potentially millions of descendants of Muslims who were expelled from Spain during the Middle Ages. The growing clamor for "historical justice" comes after the recent approval of a law that would grant Spanish citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Muslim supporters say they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as Jews because both groups were expelled from Spain under similar historical circumstances. But historians point out that the Jewish presence in Spain predates the arrival of Christianity in the country and that their expulsion was a...

A member of Ukraine’s opposition movement has called on Jewish and Muslim billionaire businessmen to force the president, Victor Yanukovich, to step down. In a speech in Kiev’s Independence Square, the unnamed protester, who said he was Muslim, urged Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Victor Pinchuk and David Zhvania -oligarchs with links to the protest movement - to talk to the president. He said: “You practice Judaism. In the holy synagogue, you have seats with placards. And you, today, are the only people who have access to Yanukovich. “In another week, your businesses, which you have earned in this land through the work...

Muslims Demand "Right of Return" to Spain Muslim groups are demanding Spanish citizenship for potentially millions of descendants of Muslims who were expelled from Spain during the Middle Ages. The growing clamor for "historical justice" comes after the recent approval of a law that would grant Spanish citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Muslim supporters say they are entitled to the same rights and privileges as Jews because both groups were expelled from Spain under similar historical circumstances. But historians point out that the Jewish presence in Spain predates the arrival of Christianity in the...

Syrian state TV says government forces have captured two rebel-held areas on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The report, citing a military official, says troops and pro-government gunmen captured Saturday the areas of Rasm al-Hour and Rasm al-Sad, south of the town of Quneitra. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights confirmed troops were on the offensive, adding that the air force was taking part in the attack. …

An experienced former operator from America's "tier one" black Special Operations group, "Delta Force," confirmed that misidentifications were common over the course of the war but said some foreign fighters were indeed Chechens. They entered combat as extremely disciplined and well-equipped teams with good weapons discipline and expensive personal gear made by The North Face. "There were fighters that came to train, came to fight to support the jihad, and those that came to fight and learn U.S. tactics to take back to Chechnya to fight the current Russian government," said the veteran operator, whose affiliation with "The Unit" remains...

Snippet: "Iran and its terrorist proxy groups’ influence in Latin America remains a troubling security threat to the region and world, experts said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday."

Islamist rebels in eastern Syria have ordered women to put on the Islamic veil, warning that anyone not doing so would be held to account, Reuters reports. According to the report, an organization calling itself the Islamic Law Council of Deir al-Zor said in a statement released Wednesday that women have until Saturday to don the face veil. The group did not say what punishment would befall women who fail to comply with the order. …

A Fatwa has been issued against living on Mars by clerics who say that trying to set up home there would be un-Islamic. The fatwa – or ruling – was issued by the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the UAE after the Mars One organisation announced that it would try and establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. The committee argued that an attempt to dwell on the planet would be so hazardous as to be suicidal and killing oneself is not permitted by Islam

An explosion tore through a bus carrying South Korean Christian tourists from Sinai to the Israeli border on Sunday, killing four people and wounding around 15. Excerpt per Reuters

President Shimon Peres on Monday hailed remarks by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the issue of the “Palestinian refugees”, AFP reported. Peres, who said Abbas’s comments showed his "seriousness about reaching peace", was referring to what Abbas said during a meeting Sunday with more than 300 Israeli university students at his Ramallah headquarters. At the meeting, the PA chief told the students said he did not want to "flood Israel" with so-called “Palestinian refugees” and that there was no need to "re-divide" Jerusalem. "I was happy to hear him," Peres's office quoted him as saying at the start of...

Is the Israeli Mossad behind the Arab Spring? According to a play which recently aired on Egyptian television, the answer is yes. The anti-Semitic play, entitled “The Spy,” recently aired on the Egyptian Al-Hayat TV channel. It was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The play displays anti-Semitic stereotypes and portrays Mossad officials preparing “for a huge operation of espionage and sowing disunity” which targets the entire Arab world. …

Last Thursday, two Turkish businessmen stopped for lunch in a fish restaurant during a business trip to Edirne in the Babaeski region.At some point during their meal, the restaurant owner figured out that they were Jews.Rather than show them the hospitality Turkey is renowned for, he said he won’t serve Jews, and began cursing them and the Torah. He then took a long knife off the counter and threatened to kill them.The men ran for their lives.Anti-Semitic attacks have become regular events in Turkey. In December, after leaving an anti-corruption rally in Istanbul, a young woman was attacked by 10...

He was a moderate — until he wasn’t. He was an ordinary Muslim, not an Islamist — until he starting talking about bomb making. OTTAWA — In a secretly-recorded conversation played publicly for the first time Tuesday, accused terrorism collaborator Khurram Sher discusses bomb making and appears to suggest a repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton as a possible target. The conversation between the 31-year-old Montreal-born pathologist and two alleged co-conspirators then turns to their bearded appearances, which brings a suggestion from Dr. Sher that they might shave and “wear Canadian colours.” To which one of his alleged co-conspirators...

"BAGHDAD — A group of Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad were killed on Monday when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives, army and police officials said."

Philippine marines killed at least 6 Muslim extremists and captured one of their jungle lairs in fighting in the south, military officials said Monday. Backed by village militias, the marines launched an assault over the weekend after several Abu Sayyaf militants were monitored in their jungle lair near Talipao town on Jolo Island, marine brigade commander Col. Jose Cenabre said. …

Last week I attended a discussion with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javed Zarif and witnessed his ability to mesmerise his listeners. The event took place at the German Council of Foreign Affairs in Berlin. Mr. Zarif succeeded in dazzling his audience – about 250 foreign policy experts — with commonplace sentences such as: “global security is indivisible”, “dialogue is necessary” or “war is not a good option.” He came across as an Iranian Gorbachev, a good-hearted reformer defying the powers of darkness. Yet a few days earlier he had bowed his head before the grave of a particularly sinister figure...

Iranian naval fleets were on their way across the Atlantic Ocean and headed toward the US, the Fars news agency reported on Saturday. “Iran’s military fleet is approaching the United States’ maritime borders, and this move has a message,” Adm. Afshin Rezayee Haddad of Iran’s Northern Navy Fleet was quoted as saying.